Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The best video clip of the ObamaCare "if you like it, you can keep it" scandal hearing today in Frankfort will be of an Anthem official admitting that Obama's "you can keep it" lie was identified as such back in 2010.

KET's video of today's Banking and Insurance hearing should be available in the morning.

Democratic members of the committee appear mostly ready to run as fast as possible from ObamaCare in the upcoming legislative session. We still await Kentucky Supreme Court action on Gov. Steve Beshear's illegal attempt to implement ObamaCare without legislative approval.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Tuesday morning in Frankfort government officials will hold a public hearing on the "if you like it, you can keep it" scandal. The Interim Joint Committee on Banking and Insurance will hear from officials at Humana and Anthem as well as Kentucky Department of Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark.

The meeting will take place at 10 am in Room 149 in the Capitol Annex.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance claims its mission is to "promote sound, competitive insurance markets; protect the public through effective enforcement and regulation; and empower the public through outreach and education." Their utter failure on each of these points leads one to the inescapable conclusion that the department of insurance is corrupt or incompetent or both.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

If you liked how the Common Core science standards were voted down in committee in September but allowed to dumb down Kentucky public schools anyway, you probably like that the same thing happened yesterday when regulations for state ObamaCare exchange operations were also waved on through despite another overwhelming rejection by state legislators.

If Obama were working up a slogan for this kind of government, he might say "If you like having a voice in state government, you can keep it." Worse it's perfectly legal given how the statutes have been constructed.

Legislators should get to work giving teeth to the KRS 13A administrative review process so this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It would be quite simple to stop legislators from leaving meetings to bust up quorums and to prevent governors from ignoring the will of the people's representatives when they oppose him in this process. Anyone with a little courage willing to give it a shot?

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Two weeks ago, the Kentucky Department of Insurance admitted that 280,000 citizens would lose their health insurance to ObamaCare and last week Obama/Beshear said they might get a one-year break on that. Today, the Department said all but a few thousand people will have to go down with the ship.

Spokeswoman Ronda Sloan said in response to all the backlash to Obama/Beshear's dishonesty about market disruption caused by the "Affordable Care Act," that a "change would impact 2,656 policyholders (4,749 total covered lives)."

Only 275,000 more Kentucky victims (so far) need at least a temporary escape from this mess.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear now has a choice to look like an idiot or a Scrooge. Health insurer Humana has quietly jumped at Beshear's offer to protect Kentuckians from crazy unaffordable health insurance in 2014, filing a rate increase request with the state for less than 8% -- one-tenth its approved request under ObamaCare mandates.

So right before Christmas, Beshear's Department of Insurance can either cave in on his ruinous, politically charged support for ObamaCare and grant the request or tell the hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians displaced by ObamaCare to eat cake.

If he grants the consumer-friendly Humana policy request, those rates will be lower than rates on the exchange even with the greatest federal subsidies, effectively killing the Kentucky ObamaCare exchange. If he refuses, public support for the ObamaCare fiasco -- and for Beshear -- will fall even faster.

We can't hold our breath waiting for the media to report this. Please support the effort to get word about this out to the people of Kentucky by clicking here and donating what you can.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has neglected to expedite review of two ObamaCare lawsuits in December, dragging into 2014 a constitutional crisis that will not just go away.

"There is no way the General Assembly will ratify Gov. Beshear's second executive order creating the ObamaCare exchange, just like they didn't ratify the first expired one which set off this crisis," said David Adams, plaintiff in both suits. "They won't fund the exchange in the budget session starting in January, which means the exchange goes away at the end of 2014 anyway. Governor Beshear will start illegally funding the Medicaid expansion in January 2014, probably leading to a new lawsuit. Only the Kentucky Supreme Court can restore the rule of law in our Commonwealth. Failure to act is not acceptable."

Friday, November 15, 2013

As if we needed more evidence Washington D.C. is descending into full-blown idiocracy, the Democratic National Committee sent out an email Friday evening raising money to keep pushing ObamaCare down our throats.

"But you know what else would help get more people enrolled," asked Mo Elleithee, Communications Director for DNC. "If Republicans would stop their concerted effort to block the law at every turn. If more Republican governors would set up state exchanges or expand Medicaid. If Republican lawmakers would stop holding ridiculous hearings to score political points, and help folks figure out how to fix the problems."

Holding hearings and filing lawsuits would not be scoring "political points" if ObamaCare promoters weren't breaking laws and making healthcare worse and more expensive.

"Because under the Affordable Care Act, being a woman is no longer a preexisting condition," Mo said, spinning the fact ObamaCare forces men to obtain maternity coverage for themselves in the name of fairness.

"Republicans, though, have never really been interested in that," Mo continues. "They don't want Obamacare to work. They are actually afraid of it working. Why? Because they know once people begin to enjoy the benefits that come with a better and more affordable health care system, they won't want to give them up."

Plaintiff, David Adams,
for his Complaint against Defendants, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, acting
through the Office of the Governor (“Governor”), and Governor Steve Beshear, in
his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth, Senate President Robert
Stivers, in his official capacity as President of the Senate, Roger L. Marcum,
in his official capacity as Chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education, Robert
L. King, in his official capacity as President of the Council on Postsecondary
Education and Cassandra Webb, in her official capacity as chairwoman of the
Education Professional Standards Board respectfully states as follows:

I. NATURE OF
ACTION

1. This is a civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief
relating to Defendants' acceptance of Common Core State Standards. Plaintiff
seeks injunctive relief in the form of a court order reversing
Defendants' illegal acceptance of Common Core State Standards and forbidding any
continued action relating to same until such time as specific legislative
approval is granted.

2. Time is of the
essence in resolving this issue because substantial public resources have been
and are currently being devoted to implementation of Common Core despite a clear
constitutional mandate intended to provide for an efficient system of common
schools. Continued delay in limiting the state officials’ activities in this
matter to within the scope of Kentucky law and the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Kentucky sets a terrible precedent for ignoring constitutional
limits on executive and legislative branch authority to protect Kentuckians’
rights to seek and pursue their safety and happiness as explicitly guaranteed by
the Kentucky Constitution.

3. The judicial
branch of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the only remaining venue for redress
available to Plaintiff.

4. As a result of the
actions of Defendants, Plaintiff respectfully seeks a temporary and permanent
injunction against Defendants' continued implementation of Common Core until
such time as the General Assembly provides appropriate legislation to restore
constitutionally mandated efficiency to the Commonwealth's system of common
schools.

II. THE PARTIES

5. David Adams is a
taxpayer and citizen of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and parent of two students
in Jessamine County Schools.

6. Governor Steve
Beshear is sued in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky.

7. Senate President
Robert Stivers is sued in his official capacity as Senate President of the
Commonwealth of Kentucky and a member of the Executive Branch of government
pursuant to Section 85 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

8. Roger L.
Marcum is sued in his official capacity as Chairman of the Kentucky Board of
Education.

9. Robert L. King is
sued in his official capacity as President of the Kentucky Council on
Postsecondary Education.

10. Cassandra Webb is
sued in her official capacity as Chairwoman of the Education Professional
Standards Board.

12. On February
10, 2010, Defendants announced acceptance of Common Core State Standards despite
the fact the standards had not yet been written. Subsequent obligations of the
Commonwealth related to Common Core could not be known then and still cannot in
order to reasonably determine the efficacy for their implementation.

13. The Constitution
of the Commonwealth, in Section 183, places responsibility for providing an
efficient system of common schools upon the legislature. The Kentucky Supreme
Court clarified this to mean "common schools shall be monitored by the General
Assembly to assure they are operated without
waste, duplication, mismanagement or political influence." Rose v. Council
for Better Education, Inc. (Ky. 1989) 790 S.W.2d 186. By failing to
intervene when Defendants obligated Kentuckians to unspecified mandates, duties,
responsibilities and costs related to Common Core, the General Assembly violated
Section 183.

V. CLAIMS FOR
RELIEF

14. Plaintiff seeks
declaratory relief pursuant to KRS 418.040. Plaintiff seeks a judicial
determination of the rights and duties of the parties with regard to an actual
controversy arising out of Defendants' acceptance of Common Core State Standards
without sufficient knowledge or understanding of the costs of such action in
violation of state law.

15. David Adams seeks
injunctive relief relating to Defendants' illegal acceptance and implementation
of Common Core State Standards, namely reversal of such acceptance and
implementation until such time as the General Assembly grants approval of same
by appropriate legislation.

VI. PRAYER FOR
RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for relief as follows: 1.
Plaintiff requests the court enter a judgment declaring the legislature erred in
failing to prevent acceptance and implementation of Common Core State Standards
by Defendants and that such acceptance must be rescinded and that such
implementation must cease and be reversed until such time as the General
Assembly makes a determination by appropriate legislation specifically
regarding efficiency in the Commonwealth's system of common schools pertaining
to standards, curriculum, best practices and testing.

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Left-wing pundits are all atwitter at the idea the Governor-elect of Virginia can swoop in and make another ObamaCare state by unilaterally forcing them into the Medicaid Expansion. He can't, and that might have an impact on Kentucky.

Expanding Medicaid in Virginia can't legally happen without full legislative approval, which is extremely unlikely to happen with a solid Republican majority in the House and an evenly divided Senate. But Terry McAuliffe could follow the lead of Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and attempt to implement it illegally, daring anyone to challenge him.

The immediate legal issue for McAuliffe if he tries this would expose a second big ObamaCare lie. While everyone knows you can't keep insurance you like, few realize the promise that federal benevolence will absorb 100% of Medicaid costs for the first three years of ObamaCare depends on a rather imprecise definition of "100%."

In other words, McAuliffe would need -- as Beshear has already quietly admitted to -- gobs of money right away, without legislative approval, to pay increased state Medicaid administration costs necessitated by the massive expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare.

Ken Cuccinelli famously filed a lawsuit against ObamaCare on the day it was passed. He should get going on this one, too. Kentucky's legal challenge is soon to be heard by the state's Supreme Court.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Governor Steve Beshear should apologize to Humana customers and return to them the $65,430 fine extracted in September when the company advised policyholders on delaying negative impacts of the federal health law. Beshear's chief insurance thug Sharon Clark said at the time Humana was misleading people by telling them ObamaCare rates would be much higher in 2014.

"Beshear could get away with calling the truth a lie in September in this instance, but he can't now," said David Adams, plaintiff in two lawsuits fighting illegal implementation of ObamaCare in Kentucky. "The money for that fine hurts Humana customers and should be returned to this Kentucky company right away. Beshear's criminal activity must stop."

Talking head speculation about ObamaCare cheerleader Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear being appointed to replace Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services brings up the possibility of an unprecedented shake up in Frankfort.

If Beshear goes to Washington D.C., per Section 84 of the Kentucky Constitution, Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson would finish up his term and then go away. He has said he will not run for Governor in 2015.

And under Section 85, Senate President Robert Stivers would ascend to the office of Lieutenant Governor for the remainder of Abramson's term, likely ending his political career.

The leadership vacuum this creates in the executive branch is far less interesting than what would happen then in the Kentucky state Senate. If Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer was then elected by his fellow Senators to the office of Senate President, he would have the opportunity to transform the state refusing to enact a budget that doesn't fix some of Kentucky's biggest problems like real pension reform, wildly excessive accumulation of debt and by putting to rest any potential lingering doubts about illegal attempts to fund ObamaCare.

Monday, November 04, 2013

While President Obama begins to get grief because the media is catching on to some of his fact-challenged health reform claims, Gov. Beshear grits his teeth hoping they won't notice his.

Specifically, Beshear has claimed repeatedly the state will incur no costs for Medicaid expansion for ObamaCare's first three years. Meanwhile, national media types are figuring out Medicaid will crush state budgets in the 26 states dumb enough to opt in to the Medicaid expansion.

Even that analysis is inaccurately rosy because it ignores the immediate new Medicaid costs to states under ObamaCare. Privately insured people with low incomes are forced into Medicaid immediately under ObamaCare and states don't get an enhanced federal match for costs of treating those people. States must absorb 100% of new Medicaid administration costs immediately under ObamaCare. In Kentucky, those costs will be over $40 million in calendar year 2014 and get higher after that.

KRS 205.520(3) requires that the Medicaid expansion be implemented only after legal administrative review as defined by KRS 13A. Because there is no legal mechanism for getting out of the Medicaid expansion once we go in, any review process we start now can't be legitimate. State law requires that a public hearing must be held on the expansion of Medicaid and KRS 13A.270(11) specifically requires that such a hearing must "guarantee each person who wishes to offer comment a fair and reasonable opportunity to do so." But there is nothing "fair and reasonable" about a process that can only have one outcome. To allow such a thing is to ignore Section 2 of the Kentucky Constitution and its unambiguous prohibition of absolute and arbitrary government. Had Gov. Beshear initiated this process on May 9 when he had his "Medicaid expansion" press conference, this process could have been initiated and completed legitimately and lawfully. Now, it can't. Gov. Beshear has a lot invested now in his bizarre claims of victory with ObamaCare, but Kentuckians have far more at stake in seeing that his ill-gotten powers be removed from him before he can do any more harm.

Saturday, November 02, 2013

An unnamed former Obama Administration official today summed up big government criminality perfectly in a front-page Wall Street Journal article with the following quote: "You try to talk about health care in broad, intelligible points that cut through, and you inevitably lose some accuracy when you do that."

The American people do not bestow power upon elected officials so they tell lies to get their policy wishes to "cut through."

The broad, intelligible point we all need to take home from the ObamaCare debacle loses absolutely no accuracy in the cutting through: there is no role for the federal government in healthcare in America. None whatsoever.

Friday, November 01, 2013

The Courier Journal screams 32,000 lucky Kentuckians have enrolled in ObamaCare in its first month, but you really should read the story, which tells a different story.

A great line: "Officials said 'enrolled' does not necessarily mean purchased."

We also learn from the story that "more than 85 percent of enrollments have qualified for expanded Medicaid." And since ObamaCare makes it illegal for anyone who qualifies for Medicaid to buy health insurance on an exchange, that means still fewer than 5000 Kentuckians have even enrolled.

And then there is this:

Tea Party activist David Adams, who has sued in an attempt to stop Kentucky’s health exchange, said the sign-ups were nothing to celebrate, given that more than 600,000 uninsured Kentuckians are eligible for coverage.

“If this was a no-brainer salvation for the state, you’d be seeing more people purchasing coverage,” he said.

He also said that nearly 300,000 residents are seeing individual plans discontinued because of Obamacare’s insurance requirements, and in some cases offered only more expensive options.

Kentucky Department of Insurance officials said those people aren’t being dropped, but rather offered new versions of their plans. They can also choose to shop for a new plan on the exchange.

I actually love this. Those 300,000 Kentuckians getting cancellation notices from their insurance companies mandated by ObamaCare should be very relieved to know that they haven't been "dropped," but merely given a "new version" of coverage with features they don't want and premiums far in excess of their former plans.

The applicability for this kind of government word game is practically endless. Your taxes aren't going up, you are being offered new versions of poverty. Your rights aren't being infringed, you are being offered new versions of force.

While President Obama was pilloried this week by national media just figuring out he had lied to them about people being thrown off their insurance plans and forced into much more expensive ObamaCare, it nearly escaped notice that hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians face the same catastrophe.

CNN singled out Kentucky as one of the worst states for this man-made disaster, but ObamaCare cheerleaders in Kentucky's media were too busy waiting for marching orders from Gov. Steve Beshear. Today, they got them: change the definition of success.

We know Kentuckians have been very hesitant to embrace ObamaCare by actually purchasing it or even accepting the "free" Medicaid expansion. Beshear knows we know too, but he still hopes we are stupid and not paying attention.

"The hundreds of thousands of web site visitors proves that Kentuckians are not only interested in affordable healthcare, they can't wait to get it," Beshear said today. "I've been traveling the state along with members of my Cabinet to encourage citizens and businesses to find out about affordable healthcare coverage. Through the Affordable Care Act, we will make healthcare available to every single citizen of this Commonwealth."

Someone should introduce the Governor to the concept of a "conversion rate." Attracting visitors to the ObamaCare web site but converting only a very few into becoming customers -- even for a free product -- would create concern in the mind of anyone in the private sector. Beshear wants you to see it as proof of success, but there is no legitimate way to do so.

And before anyone else touts growing numbers of customers for Kentucky ObamaCare, lets realize that the first 300,000 or so that they wind up with wouldn't have been shopping for new coverage at all if the federal healthcare takeover law hadn't first kicked them to the curb. At its current rate, it would be years before Kentucky ObamaCare simply gets us back up to the number of insured Kentuckians we had before ObamaCare, much less covers "every single citizen."